Meantime, Twisted Tom gear up for roles as Belmont Stakes longshots

ELMONT, N.Y. – Meantime and Twisted Tom, who figure to be two of the longer-priced horses in the 149th Belmont Stakes on June 10, put in their final workouts Saturday morning over Belmont’s main track for the third leg of the Triple Crown.

Meantime, the runner-up in the Grade 2 Peter Pan at Belmont on May 14, went five furlongs in 1:01.59, per Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch, who caught Meantime in fractions of 25.36 seconds for the first quarter and 36.79 for three furlongs and had him galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.95.

Meantime was scheduled to work in company with Arties Silver Mine, but those plans went awry when Arties Silver Mine broke off about 10 or 12 lengths in front of Meantime. Mike Luzzi, aboard Meantime, opted to have his horse just go at his own clip.

Trainer Brian Lynch wasn’t overly concerned about the mix-up since he wasn’t looking for a really fast work following last weekend, when Meantime worked five furlongs in 59.91 seconds.

“I wanted to get a nice, comfortable five-eighths,” Lynch said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out like we wanted. We didn’t have a horse to track. Mike was happy enough with the work and said there was plenty left on the gallop-out. I was real happy with his recovery rate, so unless something shows up, we’re going to keep pressing forward.”

Meantime possesses a lot of early speed, and the defections from the Belmont this week of Conquest Mo Money and True Timber take some of the other potential pace challengers out of the race.

“That’s certainly one of the reasons I keep hanging in there, keep looking at the race,” Lynch said.

Mike Smith, the Hall of Fame rider who has won the Belmont twice, will have the mount in the Belmont Stakes.

A field of 12 is shaping up for the Belmont Stakes, post positions for which will be drawn on Wednesday at Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan. The field, with riders, is expected to be: Classic Empire (Julien Leparoux), Epicharis (Christophe Lemaire), Gormley (Victor Espinoza), Irish War Cry (Rajiv Maragh), J Boys Echo (Robby Albarado), Lookin At Lee (Irad Ortiz Jr.), Meantime (Mike Smith), Multiplier (Joel Rosario), Patch (John Velazquez), Senior Investment (Channing Hill), Tapwrit (Jose Ortiz), and Twisted Tom (Javier Castellano).

Shortly after Meantime worked, Twisted Tom worked five furlongs in 1:01.14 in company with the 4-year-old Economic Model. Welsch timed Twisted Tom’s first three furlongs in 36.15 seconds and his final quarter in 24.97. He caught him galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.55 and seven furlongs in 1:28.37.

Trainer Chad Brown called it a maintenance work “which he executed perfectly. All his major works are done now for the Belmont, so I feel good about it.”

Brown, who won the Preakness with Cloud Computing, knows he’s bringing a longshot to the Belmont but feels that the 1 1/2-mile distance of the race “just might bring these horses closer together.”

Twisted Tom, a New York-bred gelding, has won the Private Terms and Federico Tesio stakes in his two most recent starts. He must be supplemented to the race for a fee of $75,000 because he is not Triple Crown nominated.

Economic Model, Twisted Tom’s workmate, is pointing to the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on the June 10 card. Economic Model worked without blinkers, and Brown is taking them off for the race. He has worn blinkers in his last four starts.

“He really worked well today,” Brown said. “He’s kind of an average work horse, and I think today was kind of an A-plus work for him. He’s coming to the Met the right way.”